U.S. Pat. No. 9,171,716 discloses a method of forming a metal oxide hardmask on a template, comprising: (i) providing a template constituted by a photoresist or amorphous carbon formed on a substrate; and (ii) depositing by atomic layer deposition (ALD) a metal oxide hardmask on the template constituted by a material having a formula SixM(1−x)Oy wherein M represents at least one metal element, x is less than one including zero, and y is approximately two or a stoichiometrically-determined number.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,284,642 discloses a method for forming an oxide film of a metal or silicon by plasma-assisted processing such as plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD). More specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 9,284,642 discloses a method for forming an oxide film by plasma-assisted processing includes: (i) supplying a precursor reactive to none of oxygen, CxOy, and NxOy (x and y are integers) without a plasma to a reaction space wherein a substrate is placed; (ii) exposing the precursor to a plasma of CxOy and/or NxOy in the reaction space; and (iii) forming an oxide film on the substrate using the precursor and the plasma.